The Romulan Bird of Prey was a warship of the Romulan Star Empire built and deployed in the 23rd century. It appears in the TOS episode "Balance of Terror", in which it destroys several of Federation outposts bordering the Romulan Neutral Zone. After a long chase, the ship is eventually destroyed by the USS Enterprise.

Technical Data

The plasma torpedos carried by the Romulan ship were considered far superior to the phaser armament of the USS Enterprise.

The Bird of Prey was the first Star Trek ship to demonstrate a cloaking device. The device made the ship invisible to normal light and targeting sensors, but it could still be detected with subspace motion detectors. The Enterprise was able to attack it by laying down patterns of fire in area where its movement had been detected.